Terry Pratchett and the real science of Discworld

You can learn a lot about this world from the fictional universe being carried on the back of a giant turtle, as the man who became Pratchett’s collaborator after telling him to shut up at an SF convention explains

I’m guessing that people will read Terry Pratchett for generations to come. Partly for the intrinsic value of the books – because they are so funny, so smart and so perceptive. And partly because, surprising as it may seem considering they are fantasy novels, there can be few better guides to contemporary thinking in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

“He is of course writing about us,” said AS Byatt – a quote I keep coming back to because it gets to the heart of Pratchett’s achievement. He used fantasy to demonstrate all kinds of truths about mankind, including things that might otherwise have been impossible to say. To return to Night Watch and my article last week, Pratchett remarks of the people of Ankh-Morpork that they “tended to be small-minded and conservative and not very clever and were even distrustful of cleverness”. It’s harder to be so blunt about real UK citizens. Would you feel entirely comfortable suggesting as much about – for example – a place where lots of people vote Ukip (or whichever political party you like least)?

Related: Terry Pratchett's Night Watch - politically inspiring, gloriously funny

Related: Is The Colour of Magic a good introduction to Terry Pratchett?

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